A Different Game Now
by LisaandIvy
Summary: The story of Undertale as you know it. Or is it? Haley, the new human in place of the human we all recall, must find her way through the maze that is the Underground. But this isn't just any fanfiction! Oh no! Your decisions will impact just what our protagonist chooses to do and whether she'll follow her heart. Or her knife.
1. The Fall and The Flower

The girl sat up, groaning as she rubbed the back of her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, whining softly as she gently tapped the back of her head. It felt like she'd been thwaped over the back of the head with a bat!

"Owww." She whimpered, cracking one eye open to peer at her surroundings.

A large bed of golden flowers spanned the ground directly beneath her, then gave way to smooth stone floor and craggy stone walls. Looking up, she realized just how far down she'd fallen into this cave. Her nerves twitched with fear as she stared up at the sky so high above.

Getting up, she looked to see if there was any way to climb back out only to find just sheer walls all around with no way to climb up to any ledges. Dejected, she looked around again, this time paying attention to see if there was any other way out.

Down a short hallway to her left, she spotted a rather ornamental doorway carved of apparently purple rock. With no other options at this point, she stood, wincing hard at how sore her back end was, and set forward to find a way back up.

Stepping through the doorway, she was greeted with the peculiar sight of a flower with what looked like a drawn-on smiley face in the middle of the small room in a single patch of light she couldn't determine a source for.

Worriedly approaching the flower, the girl tilted her head and leaned down to get a closer look at the oddly vibrantly yellow plant.

"Well howdy!" It beamed and the girl screeched in panic, scrambling backwards and falling over in surprise. "Well gosh! That isn't a very nice way to greet somone~!"

"Wh-hu-ah-uh-mmmm!" She slapped a hand over her mouth, using the other to point at the flower as it leaned over, nearly upside down, still grinning in a way that hadn't changed but was now somehow creepier than before.

"Awwww, you're new to the Underground, aren't'cha? What was I saying before? Og yeah! I'm Flowey! Flowey the Flower! Guess lil' ole me will have'ta show you how things work around here then!" It winked, sticking its tongue out cheekily as some odd little sparkle appeared, the girl quickly questioning her life choices and whether she'd actually died from that fall and this was some weird as heck purgatory.

Suddenly, the world was black and white and a box appeared before her with a red heart in the middle. The flower beamed at her from the other side of the box.

"This is your SOUL!" It told her excitedly. "SOULs start off weak but you can make it stronger by gaining LV!"

"L-LV?" She attempted to mimic the way Flowey had said it, squinting in confusion. "Wait like... "

"LOVE!" Flowey spoke up before she could finish her thought. "Down here, LOVE is shared through little white…. " _Friendliness pellets"_." Small white pellets, the very same the flower had just described, she was sure, appeared from seemingly nowhere, spinning in place as a shifty expression ghosted across Flowey's face. Brightening it's expression before she could say anything to point it out, Flowey spoke again. "Move around! Get as many as you can!"

It didn't feel right to listen for some reason, but she didn't know enough about this whole… _anything_ to refute it. Against her better judgement, the girl willed the heart to move up the box and collected the little sunflower seed shaped pellets.

A yelp of pain and she was on her knees, clutching her chest as a red bar on the bottom dropped, the numbers beside it, "20/20", dropping down to "1/20" as the pellets blinked from existence. Flowey threw its head back, cackling with sick enjoyment.

" _You_ _ **IDIOT!"**_ Its grin twisted into something horrifying and downright villainous. "Like anyone would let a chance at free EXP slip by! Haven't you figured it out yet? In this world-" The girl gasped, eyes widening as the flower's face became more twisted. " _ **It's KILL or BE KILLED!"**_ It cackled as a ring of pellets surrounded both the heart and the girl. She whimpered fearfully as the pellets started to close in on her, a cry of panic bubbling at the back of her throat even though she was sure no one would come to her aid.

Just as suddenly as they had appeared, the pellets vanished and Flowey's laughter cut short with a confused frown changing his expression. "Wha- huh?"

Another pellet, this one shaped more like a flame, blinked to life next to Flowey, catching both parties' attention quickly. Flowey screeched as the pellet hit him, sending the flower flying off to the side, though the girl's attention turned to the new figure that took Flowey' place before her/

"Oh, what a miserable creature!" The goat woman said, looking at the human girl with such a soft expression, she felt her heart tighten in her chest. "Tormenting a poor, innocent youth!"

Getting back to her feet, the girl looked the woman who had rescued her over with cautious curiosity. She was easily taller than herself, with purple robes with an interesting insignia she'd never seen before displayed on the woman's chest.

"My name is Toriel, child. I am the caretaker of the Ruins" The woman smiled and held a hand out to the human. "What is your name, dear one?"

"H-... Haley… My name's Haley."


	2. Puzzles and Fights

Hesitantly, Haley reached out to grab the goat woman's hand. Toriel's face softened into a comforting smile and understanding eyes.

"Welcome to the Underground, my child. Please, come with me." Toriel smiled and then led the human gently by the hand through the door behind where Flowey had been.

"Where… am I?" Haley asked tentatively, easily keeping stride with the woman as they walked towards the stairway. She spotted something glowing between the two staircases but chose to ignore it for the time being.

"This is the Ruins, my child. A place filled with puzzles and monsters."

"M-monsters?!" Her mind was filled with images of every scary movie she'd ever seen (few as they were) as well as Flowey, who she couldn't think of a better term for.

"Yes, but they are quite peaceful here. The puzzles are the most dangerous things in the Ruins. Like this one." Toriel stopped inside the doors, pointing to a bunch of large gray buttons on the ground to their right.

"Puzzles are ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys. One must solve them to move from room. Please, adjust yourself to the sight of them." Letting go of Haley's hand, Toriel walked over the second and last rows of buttons and flipped a switch the human hadn't noticed before on the wall.

Toriel smiled as she stood in front of the door that was now open. "So long as you stay close, it will all be fine. Come, I think you will like the next one."

"A-actually, I think I forgot something, I'll catch up in a minute." Haley pointed over her shoulder and quickly returned to the other room before Toriel could say anything.

Haley hopped down the stairs and turned towards where she'd seen the sparkling object before. It sat there still, twinkling ambiguously in the air. She thought it odd Toriel hadn't mentioned it but perhaps she hadn't noticed it? Whatever the reason, she walked up to it, curiously leaning down to see if there was something holding it up.

Seeing nothing, she stood back up and stared curiously at the shining object again. It was bright, sure, but not blindingly so. She wondered if it was warm so she put her hand out to grab it.

A black box with a white trim appeared, white letter in an oddly pixelated font appeared so suddenly she jumped and squeaked.

"HALEY LV: 1

RUINS: ENTRANCE

SAVE? RETURN?"

Looking the text box over in confusion, she decided to hit the save button. A sound played and the box text changed.

"STATE SAVED"

She didn't like that very much but decided to leave it be. Toriel was calling to her now and was likely about to come to check on her. The box vanished as suddenly as it appeared and Haley dashed up the stairs.

"Oh, I was starting to worry." Toriel said as Haley came to a stop in the room with the buttons. "Did you find what you forgot?"

"Yup!" Haley smiled brightly, unable to ignore the warmth in her chest at the woman's concern. It was nice. "So, what is this next puzzle?"

Toriel smiled and clasped her hands together. "Oh, it is here in the next room. Come!"

With that, Toriel led the way through the doors. A larger room awaited them, with a sign at the edge of the small pathway and a plaque of some kind on the far wall. Toriel stopped beside the sign, and smiled.

"To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labelled the ones you need to flip." Then walked across the small bridge that gave a way across what Haley assumed was a canal of some kind.

Before following the goat monster, Haley inspected the closer sign. " _Read the signs!"_ It advised her and she decided that's probably be a good idea, who knew what these could tell her? The further sign, to her amusement, read " _Stay on the path!"_ How silly, to add this away from the path.

Haley then walked across the small bridge where Toriel waited before the next bridge. A switch on the far wall had some text and arrows on the wall beside it. Toriel simply nodded towards the switch so Haley approached it.

" _Please press this switch -TORIEL"_ The text on the wall said. She chuckled under her breath, not sure what to make of how this room seemed to have been set up with a child in mind and not a 20 year old girl. She flipped the switch and looked back over as Toriel clapped her hands together, pride in her eyes as she beamed.

They crossed the next bridge and Haley went right to the next switch.

"Splendid! I'm proud of you, young one!" Toriel declared with a big smile and her hands clasped to her chest. "Let us move to the next room."

In the next room, which seemed more the size of the room with the buttons, sat some kind of mannequin. Haley normally didn't like mannequins, but this one seemed… cute? Like she could pick it up and carry it like a stuffed animal.

"As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation." Wait, living in the Underground? When was this decided? Haley bit her tongue to hold back the questions as Toriel continued on. "However, worry not! The process is simple. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT." Great, she was horrible at fighting. Anyone could probably beat her with her wimpy upper body strength.

"While you are in a FIGHT, strike up a friendly conversation." **WHAT**. What kind of logic was that?! If someone was trying to kick her ass, when would she have time to even try that?! "Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict."

Haley may have never actually been in an actual fight before, but none of that seemed right, but if Toriel was gonna show up to keep people from kicking her butt, who was she to question the…. _Odd_ logic of it all. Besides, these were monsters, everything most operate different from how she understood things. "Practice talking to the dummy!"

She walked up to the dummy, only for the world to turn black and white as it did when she met Flowey. In a moment of panic at the thought, Haley shouted and stumbled back away from the dummy. The color returned and Toriel rushed over to Haley who had dropped to her bottom.

"Oh dear, are you alright, my child?" The woman gently grabbed Haley's arms and looked her over. "You do not have to FIGHT the dummy if you do not want to." She assured the human who nodded quickly.

Haley rubbed at her face and tried to calm her heart. If the fact that the world losing color so suddenly hadn't startled her enough, the thought of how close to being murdered by a psyhcopathic flower had been a good enough kicker.

"We can try again another time, it's alright." Toriel smiled gently. "Let us try another puzzle instead. Would that be alright?"

Haley took a breath and then nodded. "Yeah, that's... That'd be good."

Toriel smiled and helped the human to her feet. Together, they left the room, Haley glancing back at the dummy woefully. She had been so startled she hadn't even had a chance to pay attention to the buttons that had appeared fro but a moment under the box she remembered her "SOUL" had appeared in during her encounter with Flowey.

Toriel stops beside the odd path in the middle of the room and looks down at Haley with a smile. "There is another puzzle in this room… I wonder if you can solve it?"

It had surely meant to have been meant to under her breath but Haley took it as a challenge. After thoroughly screwing that thing with the dummy up, she was determined to do better this time.

As they walked through the small hallway between the room with the path and whatever the next room held, Haley spotted a sign. Before she could read it, however, the world flashed black and white.

Haley yelped and stumbled back a step, looking about in confusion until a small frog like creature with something that looked like a face in its stomach. The box in front of her read suddenly read " _Froggit attacks you!"_ The buttons she had just been wondering about appeared so she took a moment to read what they each said.

"FIGHT" "ACT" "ITEM" and "MERCY", they said. Her hand hovered over the FIGHT button and then over the ACT button, remembering what Toriel had said about stepping in during a FIGHT.

 _FIGHT or use MERCY? These are the options available to you, PLAYER. You must decide what our Human will do now. Will you lead her down the path of Genocide, or up the way of Pacifist?_


	3. Unnecessarily Dramatic

Odd as it was, she felt a gentle pressure, like someone nudging her hand towards the "MERCY" option. She was already confused beyond a doubt about literally everything else going on so she ignored the inevitable question at the back of her mind and pressed the button.

Before anything else could happen, Toriel appeared and shot the smaller monster a rather fierce scolding look which, for _some reason_ , sent the Froggit leaving ashamedly. A laugh slipped out of the girl's mouth at the scene, but they then continued on their way, Haley unable to suppress a sigh of relief as color returned to the world.

Sparing a glance at the sign she'd seen before as they walked past it, Haley realized it read "The western room is the eastern room's blueprint."

What an odd sign…

The two enter into the next room and Haley's blood ran cold in shock at the spikes laid out before them. It seemed to be the only way across to the next doorway, which made Haley that much more nervous about the entire situation.

Toriel frowned thoughtfully as she looked out over the spikes. "This is the puzzle, but…" She looked down at the human who inched closer to her in obvious fear. "Here, take my hand for a moment." Toriel smiled and offered her hand to the human.

It had startled Haley for a moment, but she took the other's hand a little too eagerly, clinging to her like a child would to their mother. Toriel's smile brightened further at the girl's reaction, then led the way through the maze, careful to keep a slow pace for the jumpy human.

"Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." She said when they had made it to the other side. Haley glanced back at the puzzle, then at Toriel and nodded.

Continuing to hold hands, Toriel led Haley to the next room, which was already giving the human a bad feeling.

The hallway was absurdly long, the other end nearly impossible to make out. The path curved oddly and unnecessarily and she could see something at the far end, but only barely.

Toriel let go of Haley's hand and turned to face her, hands held neatly in front of her. "You have done excellently thus far, my child. However, I have a difficult request to ask of you."

 _Oh sweet jesus please no._

In her mind, Haley begged that Toriel wasn't about to try and fight her now.

"I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself."

Wait, what? Relief flooded her system and Haley felt her shoulders relax. If it was something so simple, surely she'd be fine.

"Forgive me for this." …. _What the fuck was THAT supposed to mean?!_

Toriel then turned and started walking away but at a pace so quick there was no way Haley would be able to catch up, even sprinting, which she did after a moment's confusion.

Her mind immediately jumped to staying in Toriel's footsteps in case there were traps or something. But then it went right to just catching up with Toriel as childish fear of loneliness invaded her mind. "Toriel wait!" Haley nearly wailed in panic. Somehow, the tall monster had all but vanished even though the hallway was completely straight. "Don't leave me behind!"

Unable to continue running, she slowed and stopped at what she would guess to be halfway down the hall to catch her breath. Looking up, she realized Toriel really wasn't anywhere in sight. Panic rose up again at the back of her throat, but the human took a deep breath, letting her head hang as she leaned on her knees.

Toriel wouldn't have actually left her behind, right? Right. So she just needed to get to the other end of the room and she'd probably find Toriel there. Maybe it was like an optical illusion and Toriel was just waiting at the door.

With that thought in her head as a deterrent for whatever other intruding ideas may come, she continues down the hall at a brisk walk, unable to ignore the fear crawling on her back at being left alone so suddenly.

To her surprise, Toriel was nowhere to be seen, though the odd thing she had seen from the other end turned out to be a single pillar by the door.

"Toriel?" She called, looking around for some hidden door or a curtain to open. Just before she could leave the room, the goat woman suddenly appeared from behind the pillar.

"Greetings, my child!" Toriel smiled as she stopped in front of the human, Haley releasing a sigh of relief. "Do not worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time." She gestured to the pillar and Haley tried to recall if she had seen any hints of the goat woman when she was walking within sight of the backside of the pillar. "Thank you for trusting me."

"However," Toriel added before Haley could relax too much. "There was an important reason for this exercise. To test your independence."

...Okay, that was fair, but she was 20 years old and a middle child. She could definitely take care of herself- she was then reminded of how she almost just had a panic attack at that moment and decided to keep quiet.

"I must attend to some business, and you must stay alone for a while." Oh…. oh boy. "Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself."

"I-I thought you said the monsters here were peaceful?" Haley asked nervously.

"They are, but there are puzzles ahead that I think may be too dangerous for right now." Toriel smiled gently, putting a hand on Haley's shoulder. "I have an idea! I will give you a cellphone, so you can keep in touch with me." Toriel produced a small flip phone from a pocket in her robe that the girl hadn't even noticed before and handed it to her. "If you have a need for anything, just call."

Haley smiled and looked down at the phone before smiling at Toriel happily. "Okay. I can handle that."

Toriel nodded. "I will be back soon. Be good, alright?" She definitely seemed a little worried, especially after that little meltdown, but Haley was determined to not give the poor woman more to worry about.

With that, though, Toriel turned and left the room.

 _Now an option is left to you, will you stay put, or move forward? How will_ YOUR _DETERMINATION lead you?_


	4. Alone Together

As much as she was ready to plop behind the pillar and play on her cell phone (not the one she'd just been given), something at the back of her head nagged her to continue moving. Not to mention something seemed to actually be shoving her from behind, like a fussy child demanding she continue.

With a sigh and a muttered curse, Haley stretched her arms behind her head and kept walking.

The hall let out into a small room with piles of leaves scattered in rather suspiciously made piles. On the biggest pile in the room, another flowing star point. She approached the star and touched it, smiling as the black box popped back up.

"HALEY LV:1

RUINS: LEAF PILE

SAVE? RETURN?

She palmed the "SAVE" button and turned around. A doorway to her left was all but daring her to enter and she felt childishly excited to explore it. Sure, she'd panicked earlier about being left alone, but this time, Toriel was simply leaving her to her own devices to stay preoccupied and that was much less scary. Plus, Toriel hadn't said anything about leaving the room.

"Alright little buddy," she spoke aloud to whatever force was egging her on. "Let's do some exploring."

The next room was small and mostly empty, save a bowl atop some sort of tiny table and canals on either side of the room. She walked up to the table and peeked into the bowl. Some kind of candy, it looked like.

She couldn't quite remember the last time she had eaten and who knew how long she'd been down here by now anyways, so she swiped a few candies before spotting a sign that read "TAKE ONE".

…. Well shit. She sighed, shoved one piece in her pocket, and dropped the rest back in the bowl. For later then.

She turned and wandered back out into the other room, wondering which way Toriel had gone when she noticed a froggit next to her. In a panic at remembering how she'd run into one of them earlier, she jumped away, throwing her arms up in defense.

The small creature merely looked up at her with a curious tilt of its head. It smiled up at her and spoke up.

"Hello human!"

"Uh… h-hi?" She lowered her arms cautiously, still a bit nervous.

"I have some advice for you about battling monsters!" It ribbited happily and she blinked in surprise. That would be rather helpful…

Lowering herself to sit cross legged beside the dog sized frog creature, she nodded for it to continue. It beamed with both faces and continued.

"If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until you almost defeat them, they might not want to battle you anymore." She smiled and nodded, letting Froggit know she was listening still. "If a monster does not want to fight you, please…" It's eyes seemed to sparkle up at her as it pleaded. "Use some MERCY, human."

She smiled softly and nodded. "Absolutely. I promise." The Froggit hopped in place happily and even let her pet it's head.

With that, she got up and decided to continue on, absent-mindedly hitting the save as she passed it.

To her surprise though, another Froggit appeared, cueing the world to turn black and white as a battle began.

She yelped, throwing her hands up in defense as the buttons appeared before her and the Froggit looked up at her expectantly.

"U-uh…" She gulped and looked down at the buttons, fingers hovering over FIGHT, ACT, and then MERCY. What was she gonna do now?


	5. A Little Friend

She felt the pressure on her hand again, gentle and comforting. Like a friend.

It was nice.

Her hand was guided towards the ACT button, which she pressed. Then came some options.

She could CHECK, COMPLIMENT, or THREATEN. She was probably the least intimidating person there was, so she chose to COMPLIMENT the Froggit.

"You look very lovely today!" She told the Froggit, beaming. It blushed and new text popped up on her box.

' _Froggit didn't understand what you said, but was flattered anyway.'_

Haley beamed happily, but was surprised as the box changed and the heart, which seemed… different somehow, appeared. Tiny, fly like bullets appeared and she quickly attempted to avoid them. With a small yelp, she took what the little "HP" bar said was 2 points of damage, though it hurt like a flu shot.

After that was over, the menu returned to normal. She decided she preferred to end this quickly, hitting the MERCY button and hit the yellow SPARE option.

To her delight, the Froggit waved and the encounter ended. Before the little creature could wander off, she knelt down and pet its head. It made a sound that was some odd mix of a purr and a ribbit, which she couldn't help but giggle at.

"Do you wanna come with me, little guy?" She asked. "I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Really?" The Froggit beamed with both faces and nodded. "Yes! But I'm not really good at fighting." It seemed to look disappointed with itself.

"That's okay. Neither am I!" She grinned. "I just really don't wanna walk around by myself. But I promise I'll protect you, okay?"

The Froggit thought for a moment then beamed and nodded excitedly. "I'd love to, human!"

"You can just call me Haley, okay?"

"Haley? Okay! You can call me Frobert then!"

The brunette human laughed and nodded, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. "Frobert! It's a really cute name!" The Froggit blushed again and beamed happily, tilting its head up proudly. "Okay, well… I guess we ought to keep moving then!" Haley really didn't know why, but she was actually excited to move forward now!

"Onward!" Frobert cheered and hopped around her feet. "Onward we go!"

"Adventure awaits!" Haley laughed as followed the excited monster into the next room.

"This room has a puzzle!" Frobert warned her as he stopped in front of a patch of ground that was disturbed in a way she couldn't identify. "It won't hurt you though, but just be careful."

"Does…. It have to do with these vents on the walls?" She pointed at two odd holes on either side of the room and she wasn't sure what they were for.

"Yup! Watch me!" Frobert hopped on the patch and, to her terror, he dropped out of sight.

"FROBERT!" She screeched, dropped to her knees and looked down the hole.

"It's fine!" He called up, standing in the room below with a wave of his paw. "See? It's safe! It's just supposed to surprise you!"

"I-I dunno man." She called down, gulping nervously as she tried to judge the distance. It was making her dizzy to just look down there so she started to back up. "I-it still looks pretty hi-!" She gasped as the ground beneath her hands gave way and she tumbled straight down.

"Haley!" The last thing she saw was the red leaf covered floor rushing up to meet her.

No actual decisions this chapter, just wanted to get this out. Next one will be out soon.


	6. From Duo to Trio

"Please-"

"-up, please!"

"Haley!"

Haley winced and slowly opened her eyes. Frobert sat over her with a panicked expression that quickly turned to one of relief.

"You're okay! Gosh you scared me!" The little monster nuzzled her cheek, trying his best to hug her neck with his tiny arms. "I was so worried you weren't gonna wake up!"

"I'm okay." She winced, definitely not okay. Every spot on the backside of her body pulsed with an angry, hot pain but Frobert didn't need to know that. "Just… real sore now." Slowly and with lots of wincing, she sat up.

Frobert hopped back and forth, watching her. "Are you _suure_ you're okay?"

"Just need a minute." She groaned.

"Check your HP. You might need some healing."

"My… what?"

"Open your menu and check your HP! You went into the candy room didn't you?"

Haley tilted her head but fished the wrapped sweet out of her pocket. "What do you mean menu?"

"Wave you hand, like this!" Frobert made a small gesture and a tiny menu like something out a video game popped up in front of him. "Try it! Didn't Miss Toriel show you how to?"

"N.. no, she didn't get the chance to. I, uh.. Kinda panicked." Haley sighed and hung her head. "I'm a… bit of a wuss."

"Well, you're pretty brave to be down here in the first place." Her face flushed at the little monster's words. "Well, come on! Open your menu!"

She looked down and did her best to mimic his movements. A small swing of her arm sideways and it appeared! Just like the little text box from the stars, except it says:

"ITEM"

"STAT"

"CELL"

"Haley"

"LV: 1"

"HP: 13/20"

"Oh no, it looks like you did take a lot of damage!" Frobert hops onto her lap. "Eat the candy! It'll heal you up some, but you should probably call Toriel! It'd be bad if you took another spill like that!"

"Mmm." Haley unwrapped the little sweet and popped it into her mouth. She watched in surprise as her HP jumped back up to "20/20" as she chewed on the soft taffy-like sweet. "I… didn't expect it to do so much."

"Monster food is made of magic so it's very good at healing." Frobert beamed and patted her knee with his paw. "But I think we should call Toriel. You were out for awhile and I'm sure she'd be worried by now."

"These doors lead up to those vents we saw right?" Haley gather Frobert up in her arms and got to her feet. "We can keep moving, I'm good now."

"You're sure?" Frobert frowns as he settles into her hold like a cat. "There's another puzzle like this one and I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Well, if something does happen, you can use the phone Toriel gave me and call her, okay?"

Frobert thought for a moment, silent as she climbed their way back up to the room above.

"Okay, but I still think we ought to be more careful from now on. I had no idea humans could be so…"

"Clumsy? Accident prone?" Haley shrugged as she put Frobert on the ground. "It's mostly just me t'be honest. I'm not one for adventures that involve so much physical stuff. But let's keep moving anyways. I'm sure we'll be just fine." She smiled at his unconvinced expression. "Look, I promise I'll be more careful from now on, okay?"

The duo made their way into the next room to see…. Something odd.

A rock sitting in some little rut leading up to a button and a row of spikes between them and the door.

"Amazing." Haley sighed. "I suppose….. We should move the rock to that button?" She looked down at Frobert, who smiled and nodded.

"I think that's right."

The two walked over and Haley tried to pick up the rock. She was almost surprised that it wouldn't budge and let go with a sigh. "Okay… Shove it then."

Haley dropped to her knees and, with Frobert's help, pushed the rock across the rut and onto the button. A click sounded as the spikes disappeared from view into the grates below.

"That wasn't so bad." Haley smiled and got up, looking down a Frobert. The poor little monster looked tired already, whether from having to keep up with her long human legs or from pushing the rock, she wasn't sure but she knew it wouldn't kill her to help him.

"C'mere." She knelt down. "You can sit on my shoulders."

"Really?" He looked confused and a bit unsure.

"Yeah man, my cats' back home always climb up on me and my family's shoulders when we carry them so I'm used to the weight and claws." She tugged down one side of her shirt collar, shoving off some old thin cuts that were nothing but pink stripes on her skin. "It's no problem."

Frobert still looked unsure as he hopped closer and let her pick him up. "I think I might weight more than a "cat"."

"Dude, it's cool, just hop on up."

And with that he did, settling across her shoulders and nestling up against the back of her neck, keeping one paw in the inside of her jacket's hood.

"You good?" She asked, standing back up and hooking her thumbs into the pockets of her jeans.

"Yes, I… I think so."

"Cool, off we go!" Haley laughed and walked on, head high as they made their way to the next room. It really was surprisingly fun. Part of her wondered where the other monsters Toriel had mentioned were, but as long as she didn't have to fight anyone else, she was fine.

As if on a cue, right as she entered the next room, a tiny flying monster appeared before her eyes. It squealed in terror and flew backwards. She couldn't help put bounce back in surprise.

"A-ah! Frobert!"

"What?! What was it!"

"T-tiny lil dude! I-it's like a fairy!"

"Whimsun!" Frobert stood on her shoulders and put his front paws on her head. "Whimsun! It's okay!"

"F-froggit?" The tiny flying creature squeaked, peeking out from behind its fingers. "Y-you s-s-scared me!" Haley blinked, relaxing her posture. It was really cute now that she wasn't terrified of being attacked again.

"Uh… sorry?" She gave a tiny nervous wave. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"Y-you're a h-h-human, aren't you?" Whimsun asked tentatively, floating a little closer.

"Uhm, y-yeah.. I'm… I'm Haley." She held up her hand, then realized the poor thing could _fit_ in her hand and instead offered her pinkie. "It's, uh… nice to meet you."

It looked at her in surprise, then gently grabbed her pinkie, eyes widening in surprise as she wiggled her little finger like a handshake. She smiled and giggled as Whimsun's face brightened.

"Ah, it's- it's nice to meet you too!" The tiny monsters squeaks, smiling.

"Frobert and I are trying to get to the end of the Ruins-" "To Miss Toriel's house!" Frobert corrects her with a slight pout. "Right, Toriel's house. Would you like to come along? We could probably use the help."

"I'm a great guide!" Frobert huffed as he settled on one shoulder.

"Yeah, but we don't exactly have a great track record at the moment." Haley turned to squint at him, nodding backwards.

"Oh, yes, I suppose that's fair." Frobert looked to Whimsun hopefully. "It'd be very nice to have you along on our adventure!"

"A-adventure sounds s-scary!" Whimsun covered its face worriedly. "I-I'm not good at sc-scaaary things!"

"Well you won't be alone so that must be some help." Haley smiled and turned her hand palm up. "Honestly, I'm still pretty scared of bein' down here myself but having Frobert's really made it a lot easier to get through these. It'd be really nice to have you along with us!"

Whimsun looked from Frobert, to Haley and back again, then to the human's extended hand.

"Y-you really want _me_ come with you?" They wiped some tears from their ghostly little face, sniffling.

"As far as you're willing to come with us!" Haley beamed happily.

"Yes! It will be very fun!" Frobert croaked happily.

Whimsun looked at the two and then smiled, nodding happily. "O-okay!" Wit that they landed on Haley's hand. "In that case… p-please call me me Whimly!"

"Welcome to the team Whimly!" Haley giggled and brought her hand up to her shoulder to let the tiny creature sit up beside Frobert. "You wouldn't happen to know how to solve the next room's puzzle, do you?"

"Ah! Yes, I've seen Miss Toriel walk the path many times!" Whimly nodded and settled themself snugly on Haley's shirt collar. "I'll guide you!"

"To the next puzzle then!" Frobert grinned as he settled himself to comfortably leaning against Haley's head.

"You've really taken to this shoulder thing for someone so against it earlier." Haley teased as she walked past the little vent like the ones from the other room.

"It's very high up! I can see alot!" Frobert rested his chin atop her head. "I've always been very small, afterall so this nice!"

Haley laughed and had been about to make a joke about it but stopped in her tracks at the ground before them. The ground was disturbed, just like the room she'd fallen in and it sent a shiver down her back.

"Oh boy." Haley murmured.

"It's a v-very easy one." Whimly assured her, patting the side of the human's neck. "Go up to this wall in front of us, then walk across the floor.."

She stopped, one hand on the wall at the edge of solid ground. Her heart thumped nervously, remembering the amount of damage the fall had done last a deep, nervous breath, Haley took a small step forward, bracing for the ground to break beneath her feet. To her surprise it did not.

"Just walk all the way across." Whimly spoke, pointing to the far wall. "This part of the ground won't break."

Haley slowly picked her way across, testing each step before fully putting her foot down. When they finally got to the wall, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Okay. T… two steps this way."

Carefully, slowly, Haley followed Whimly's instructions until they were back on unmarked, normal ground.

"Oh thank god, my heart." Haley huffed a sigh of relief as she leaned one hand to the wall.

"You made it much scarier than it had to be." Frobert pointed out.

"A healthy amount of carefulness never hurt anybody." She huffed with a pointed look, Whimly nodding their approval.

"Let's continue to the next room." Frobert huffed back, then brightened as he looked ahead. "It's another version of that rock puzzle!"

"Oh good, time to shove some rocks." Haley sighed as she stopped, putting her hands on her hips. "Let's get shoving then!"

After an odd conversation with a rock, and a stop by another star near a mouse hole, the trio wandered into a room….

"Is that a ghost?" Haley squinted at the being laying on its back across the only way across the room.

" _What the heck are we supposed to do about a ghost?"_


	7. More Puzzles

"Well, we're gonna have to start an ENCOUNTER I think." Frobert muses as he rubs his chin. "This ghost hangs out down here a lot but they usually ignores us until Miss Toriel shows up and then they go and hide."

"Th-they scare me." Whimly whimpers, hiding behind a lock of Haley's hair.

"Let's just try and talk to them." Frobert suggests.

The pressure of what felt like a child pushing against her back had her taking slow, hesitant steps towards the ghost.

"Uh… e-excuse me?" Haley speaks up, wincing at how her voice squeaked nervously.

"Zzzzzzzzz."

"Uh…" Haley blinked twice and looked to Frobert, who shrugged. She leaned over the ghost and waved. "E-excuse me?"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

"I.. think we're gonna have to make them get up." Frobert whispers in her ear and she nods carefully, furrowing her brow down at the other.

"I'm… I need you to move please." She says and gently prods them with her foot, hoping to get the ghost's attention.

Her whole body tensed as she gasps, the world flashing to black and white and the box appears before her once more. The heart, her SOUL jumps from her chest, but it looks… different than last time she'd seen it during her ENCOUNTER with Flowey.

Sure, it's still red, but there are spots where it's green now, like it had been splashed with some paint. She could've sworn it had been just that bright, glowing red before… odd.

"Haley!" Whimly squeaks, tugging at a lock of hair in panic. "The ENCOUNTER's starting!"

She looks up to see the ghost, watching her with such a sad expression she felt ad for making them get up.

' _Here comes Napstablook.'_ reads the box in front of her. Gosh, even the box wasn't happy about this.

"N-napstablook, huh?" She looked up at the ghost and smiled at them. "I-I didn't mean for this to happen hun, we just needed to get by."

"Oh….. I'm sorry…" The ghost mumbles. "I'm just in the way…."

Before she could even attempt to comfort the poor thing, the box changed and her SOUL was floating in it. Squiggly lines dropped from Napstablook's face and into the box. Haley squeaked in surprise and jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the squiggles.

"Just use you hand, it's less exhausting." Frobert quickly suggested before she fell over.

Raising a shaking hand, Haley moves her SOUL away from the attack. To the left, up a little, right- "Ah!" She yelps, three different squiggles crashing into her SOUL and she grips her chest where an intense pain blooms. Her HP drops to 11 and she winces hard.

Just as panic was about to settle in, the squiggles disappear and her SOUL drops back down to the menus. She and her companions sigh in relief. Haley looks back up to Napstablook and smiles weakly despite the pain throbbing in her chest.

"N-napstablook. S-sweetheart, listen-"

"U-use your ACT menu!" Whimly whispered. "I-it's common c-c-courtesy!"

Haley sighs and presses the button labeled ACT. To her obvious surprise, there are actual options in the menu.

"CHECK FLIRT THREATEN CHEER"

"Oh my good God, what the fuck." Haley whispers to herself. "Uhhhhhmmm…. Okay." She closes her eyes and bows her head. "Alright lil… whatever you are. I'm pretty bad at this stuff so… _how's about you take over this time?"_


End file.
